Aviation Crash Map

Navion NAVION A N610

17 March 2023 · Mesa, Arizona, United States · Serious injuries

Summary

On 17 March 2023 at about 19:40 local time, a Navion NAVION A registered N610 was involved in an accident near Mesa, Arizona, United States. 4 people were on board and one was seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

The record

Date
at 19:40
Classification
Accident
Location
Mesa, Arizona, United States
Coordinates
33.4600, -111.7300
Aircraft
Navion NAVION A
Registration
N610
Category
Airplane
Year built
1950
Engines
1
Operator
Not recorded
Operating rule
Part 91: General Aviation
Purpose of flight
Personal
Phase of flight
Not recorded
Route
Mesa → Unknown
Aircraft damage
Substantial
Weather
VMC
Light
Day
NTSB number
WPR23LA129

People

1 person was seriously injured.

On board Died Serious Minor Uninjured
4 0 1 0 3

Probable cause

The pilot of the Ryan Navion’s failure to maintain visual sight of and clearance from another airplane during a formation flight, which resulted in a mid-air collision.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot of a Yakovlev Yak-52 reported that he was in the number three position, off the lead airplane’s left wing while in a four-airplane formation flight. The pilot of the lead airplane initiated a left turn and the formation followed. While in the left turn, the pilot of the number three airplane felt “a bump” from underneath and observed the number four airplane pass under his right wing, and ascend toward the lead airplane. The pilot of the number three airplane realized there had been a mid-air collision, broke away from the formation to the left, and executed an emergency landing. The number three airplane’s right wing sustained substantial damage. The pilot of a Ryan Navion reported that, he was in the number four position off of the number three airplane’s left wing in the four-airplane formation flight. The pilot of the lead airplane initiated a left turn and the formation followed. When the pilot of the number four airplane “felt to level off”, his airplane collided with the number three airplane from underneath. He then executed an emergency landing. The fuselage, vertical stabilizer, and rudder were substantially damaged. The pilots of both airplanes reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplanes that would have precluded normal operation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.

Aircraft involved

Aircraft Registration Operator Damage
Navion NAVION A N610 - Substantial
Yakovlev YAK-52 N2504U TTD LLC Substantial

Other Navion NAVION accidents

Date Aircraft Location Operator Outcome Died
29 Mar 2024 Navion NAVION B
N5429K
Sanford, Florida, United States - No injuries -
31 Aug 2022 Navion NAVION
N4913K
Newburyport, Massachusetts, United States - No injuries -
16 Sep 2021 Navion NAVION H
N1061Y
Burlington, Wisconsin, United States - No injuries -
9 Feb 2020 Navion NAVION
N1011M
Fort Smith, Arkansas, United States - Serious injuries -
21 Dec 2020 Navion NAVION A
N4106K
Livermore, California, United States - No injuries -
20 Jan 2019 Navion NAVION
N384TL
Patterson, Louisiana, United States - No injuries -

All 25 records for this type

Other accidents in this area

Date Aircraft Location Operator Outcome Died
26 Nov 2023 Cessna 182G
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Casa Grande, Arizona, United States Altimeter Inc Minor injuries -
17 Nov 2023 Theodore C Kalman ELA ECLIPSE 10
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Yuma, Arizona, United States - No injuries -
5 Aug 2023 Boeing CH-46E
N461WY
Springerville, Arizona, United States Sky Aviation Corp No injuries -
17 Mar 2023 Fay David VELOCITY ELITE
N2214W
Bullhead City, Arizona, United States - No injuries -
15 May 2023 General Atomics MQ-9 BLOCK 1
N31EJ
Elgin, Arizona, United States US Customs and Border Protection No injuries -
21 Jan 2023 Cessna 172M
N92570
Skull Valley, Arizona, United States - No injuries -

All 170,864 records in United States